Kendall Gill is expected back against Sacramento Tuesday. Leave it at that, OK?

Gill went to Florida for two additional opinions on his knee which had been diagnosed with tendinitis and a bone bruise. But Gill came back with reports of a growth in the joint, a report that was news to Byron Scott, who intends to stick with the tendinitis story.

“I had a bone scan and I have tendinitis, but they found a large hot spot right on the top of my knee cap which is causing most of the pain that I’ve been experiencing,” said Gill, who sat a fifth straight game last night and his 11th overall as the Nets played host to the Wizards.

“It was explained to me that I have a growth on my knee cap that is not normal and that has been kind of cracked a little. The way he (doctor) said it to me is it’s sort of like a bone spur that keeps rubbing up against the tendon,” Gill explained, noting that surgery would knock him out for the remainder of the season. “I’ll play as long as I can deal with it. It’s just something I have to do. I’ve just got to suck it up.”

Scott reiterated that the Sacramento game is a likely target for Gill, who he said likely will not be 100 percent the remainder of the season. Apparently, the bruise in Gill’s knee is nothing really out of the ordinary.

“I just heard it was tendinitis. That’s the first I heard of a slight bone spur or whatever it is,” said Scott, who noted that “from what I saw (Tuesday) he still has pain in there. He’s not running real fluidly and then the fact that he was out of shape a little bit. I don’t think he’ll be 100 percent the whole season. I think this is going to bother him the rest of the season. From what I heard, he can’t hurt it any more. It’s just how much can he tolerate it.”

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Rod Strickland did not travel with the Wizards because of tendinitis in his left elbow. The Wizards already have three players on the injured list so Strickland remains on the active roster . . . Nets are in Philadelphia tomorrow then home to the Bulls Saturday before embarking on a five-game West Coast trip.

Nets have used 10 different starting lineups. And the season is not half over . . . Stephon Marbury declined any comment on the All-Star Game. In the last balloting, he was fourth . . . Nets were back at the bottom of the NBA shooting list at .409. Pulling away were the Bulls at .415. The worst mark the Nets ever had was .406 in the lockout-shortened season.

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The Wizards entered with a 7-32 record, one of only four teams with a worse mark than the Nets. Still Scott was justifiably anxious. As hard as it may seem to believe, he worried his 12-26 Nets might be cocky.

“This is a team that scares me because of the way we come out sometimes,” Scott said. “I think we have a tendency to look at their record, like when we went to Chicago. Both these teams play hard. Sherm (Douglas ) said it best when we were 9-20. He said, ‘Sometimes, we come out like we’re 20-9.’ That can’t happen.”